Using chemistry to pair wine and food at Playground ATX

You, our dear readers, asked us to provide you with more content on local classes, and our pen is at your disposal.

Today, we’re kicking off a series on what and where to learn in Austin, in which we attend some of ATX’s best classes and report back.

To start, we took a trip to Playground ATX (you may remember the culinary incubator from our interview with its founders last month) for the restaurant’s ZiNG! Wine Workshop.

What to expect

The ZiNG! class, led by Playground ATX founder Sue Kim-Drohomyrecky, is all about how to use the chemistry and structure of wine to best pair it with food.

The widely taught program begins with a tasting, rating wines on six elements: acidity, viscosity, fruitiness, sugar, alcohol levels, and tannins.

Then, attendees are led through the eight elements of food (salt, oxalates, acidity, umami, fat, sugar, spice, and protein) and presented with a plate of bites. Under Sue’s guidance, we tried out different wine and food combos, noting in a personal booklet which pairings worked best and why.

At the end, the Playground ATX team brought out even more wine and food from their current headliner, East Meets Wings, for us to experiment with more complex pairings.

What we learned

City Editor London here. In this class, I learned not only how to taste wine but also how to taste food. I also learned:

• Tannins cause your mouth to feel drier because they cling to proteins in your saliva, which is why many red wines pair well with high-protein foods.
• Acidic wines and acidic foods go together like Longhorns and football.
• Tomatoes are considered umami — no, really.

Now it’s your turn.

Playground ATX’s ZiNG! class costs $50 per person, and typically runs about 90 minutes.

The next class is slated for Monday, Feb. 19 — get tickets , or keep an eye on the restaurant’s events calendar for more upcoming dates.